Untold Fairytale
by LiliJ
Summary: AFTER SEASON 5.  The greatest love story never told.  As Eve watches LA burn she remembers experiencing love with Lindsey after aeons of immortality, and finds a new purpose. Oneshot.


Eve has been alive for longer than she can remember. She's learnt many things over the years, watched as civilisation flourished and fell, watched humans live and flourish. Unable to live her eternal life, trapped as she was, caged by animals. And now she's watching civilisation burn, demon wrath brought down by the world's champion. And she wonders whether he realised what he was doing, whether he thought he was saving the world, or whether he sought to end it because he could no longer stand to live in it, trapped under guilt, regret, loss...

Just like her. Freed from her cage only to be trapped again.

Eve shakes her head sadly. The one thing she knows above all is that there is no good or evil. Just power. Just power, low and hot, burning through time. When one lives the years like seconds, one has to realise this quickly. Or else to watch human's mayfly lives, struggling so hard for good, burdened by evil, would be torture. So she attached herself to the biggest power source she could find, bound herself to their will and whim, turning away from the world and its torment. And for the longest time there was just power. Detached, white-hot, comforting.

But then there was love. Then there was him.

He's not coming to save her. Eve knows this now. Saw the coldness of a murderer in Angel's eyes. She should have known better than to let Lindsey go alone. Should have stayed with him, protected him, loved him at the end...

Eve bows her head as burning tears run down her face. Once there would have been rage, exploding inside her until she acted on vengeance. But the years have worn her down. Now there is only loss, pain. The harsh knowledge that she should never have let herself feel, never let herself love. The knowledge that if she had stayed true, believed only in power, her world would not be crashing around her right now.

As the city burns, she remembers the first time she met him. She was a little girl, older than immortality, lost in a world of lawyers and lies and men. Before LA she had worked in the other dimensions, familiar with lords and gods and eternal pacts. But here it is slippery, words twisting to reveal two faces, nothing to be sure of. She had to learn fast, though. Back straight, game face on, talk their language. Soothe, reassure, punish when necessary. Make sure these suits know who's in charge. Know that the Senior Partners are watching eagle eyed, through her.

He is young, all bravado and twisted veneer to cover up the innocence and pain. She sees him out of the corner of her eye, tucked into the corner of a meeting, watching snake-like, listening, learning. She smiles to herself. Little boy acting like a man.

Their encounters are brief, water cooler banter exchanged in bustling corridors. But there is something underneath it all. Lindsey is obviously attracted to her. Her aeons of experience have made Eve an expert in the male mating dance. But there is something she did not expect, an echo of attraction within herself. Something she has not felt, or allowed herself to feel, for generations. Lindsey reminds her of herself; she recognises crushed idealism and cold ambition inside him, mirroring her own. Alone at night Eve dares herself to believe that after centuries locked up in her chest, her heart might have begun to love again. Appalled at her humanity, she crushes it, shoves that spark down so that when she looks at him there is no pesky rush of feeling.

So she watches again, the passivity familiar after years of the practice. Watches as he struggles with himself, morals rising to the surface. Watches as he betrays and is betrayed, wounding and wounded. Watches as his amorous infatuation kicks him to the curb, his heart bruised but not broken. Eve closes her eyes against emotion, won't let herself feel his pain. But now every time they chat idly there's a sadness in his eyes she cannot bear.

And then he's gone.

Finally she can get back to what she's best at. Manipulation, liaising, power.

Except everything's not what it was. Somehow that boy has shaken her up, reminded her that she was once human. The spark of love burnt into a flame, searing her eyes as she tries to sleep, filling her mind as she tries to work. But she refused to let it shake her. And for a while she did her job, putting emotion to the back of her mind, trying to forget his face. The administration changes, shifts and flows, high positions usurped, the usual lies and betrayal. Just another day at work. Eve watches as their office is torn apart, torn herself by that Beast but unable to die. She won't let herself cry, just suffers silently as the building is rebuilt around her, moulded to fit its new commanders, the heroes. Talks nice to the new boss, soothes his ego, but reminds him with her cool looks and pointed phrases just who's in charge. He thinks he's doing good here, twisting the Wolf, Ram and Hart to his own aims, but she knows this story. Seen it before it countless worlds. He's no longer fighting for good. He's fighting for power. Because that's all there is in the end.

Except no, wait, there's a blip on the radar. Something hidden, forbidden, veiled from the Seniors' eyes. So Eve finds it out. Curiosity, always her biggest flaw. She figures, the amount of power she's brought into the corporation, she's earned her right to snoop.

And there he is.

She finds him in a dive, tucked into a corner, stereotypical brooding hot guy coming complete with glass of whiskey. That familiar rush in her heart, and she wanders over to him.

"Long time no see, Lindsey. Last I heard you'd sworn off LA for good."

"Eve."

He simply smiles that low, slow smile, the one that sends shivers down her spine and curls desire into her stomach. And soon she's up against a wall, pulses rising, breath coming in ragged gasps, her heart pumping so fast she realises she'd forgotten what true passion was. For a while all the corruption and power melts away and there's just Lindsey and his hunger and pain and need for her.

It becomes an addiction.

At the office she'll be cool, collected, indifferent. To the Partners she'll be their loyal servant, professional as she ever was. But in the shadowed hours she steals time with Lindsey, riding their passion until they are both spent. Then lying there, her nimble fingers tracing the patterns over his body, his precious spells that keep him here for her.

For a while this is all there is. But idle conversation becomes meaningful, topics shifting into secrets and plans. She discovers why he is here – overthrow Angel, destroy the LA office. There is excitement when he talks of his plot, but underneath she can sense a deep resentment, a feeling of betrayal. One night, atop his chest, she challenges him.

"I know why you're doing it. Taking down Angel. And it's not for the greater good or evil, it's not for any principle or moral. It's because he betrayed you. Pushed you away from Wolfram and Hart, acted the hero then turned on everything he'd said to you. He took your home away, Lindsey. The one place you felt respected, even if every so often there was an assassination attempt. And he made your home his."

Lindsey was shaken by her insight, she knew, but he hid it under a smile. "There's this talent you have to see into my soul. It's very unnerving."

"Sorry 'bout that, sweetie. I'll be good."

He grinned and tipped her underneath him. "God, I hope not."

She doesn't know how it happened. How he turned her against her life's work, got her to betray the Partners. Because Eve knows this has gone beyond playing, beyond a dirty little secret. It's treason to liaise with a threat to the Partners, even one intent on taking down their old adversary. But somehow she doesn't care. She's had a taste of love, humanity, and she wants more. Needs more.

It's midnight, hazy and hot when he tells her he loves her. Calls her babe, whispers it in her ear. She shivers as the words course through her brain, feels his delight when she tells him the same.

It's the single most glorious moment of her life.

Then it all comes crashing down. Lindsey charges in, all bravado and hope and righteous fury. But it doesn't help. Somehow the Powers threw them a curveball, sent their most annoying saint to aid Angel when times were hard. And she can feel Lindsey, sent screaming into the abyss, the loss of him bringing her to her knees.

Hiding ragged and broken, trapped by the magic Lindsey showed her, Eve can feel him go through hell. Feel sickly sweet suburban perfection, tear with agony when he goes to the damn basement, taste his frustration that there must be something else, another life.

And finally she cries. Sobs. Begs whatever Power doesn't hate her to spare her, spare him. She would march into that hell herself, rescue him, but she's terrified. She knows if the Partners find her they'll steal her immortality from her. She'll die. DIE. Humans have an innate fear of death, one she never used to understand. But now she feels it pull at her, it's dark gleaming grasp waking her up at night. Eve cannot be mortal.

But she has to. Trades imminent death at the hands of Hamilton for a limited life. Because she can feel him now, bleeding but breathing, and his presence back in this world pulls at her heart. There is no heartfelt reunion. She keeps her cool mask on to hide from the heroes. But every touch, every crooked grin burns into her soul, and she soars in the delight he brings her.

For a while everything is birds and bees and sunshine. The Partners, unable to touch her or Lindsey under Angel's protection, turn a blind eye to their happiness. Eve discovers that she likes dating, loves the rush of pleasure when Lindsey buys her jewellery, adores how his face glows in expensive candlelight.

She starts to believe that these moments with him were worth giving up eternity.

But as Angel begins his apocalyptic last stand, sucking Lindsey in with words of honour, Eve knows her happiness is spent. She remembers Lorne's prophecy of doom for her, and something inside her breaks. She savours every last moment with Lindsey, knowing him, loving him. Though she knew it was in vain, she warned him. Said Angel didn't trust him. Tried to make him realise his was a suicide mission, one way or another. He brushed her warnings aside, soothing her with his easy smile and gentle touch. But she saw real fear in his eyes when he told her to stay away, and she realised they both knew they weren't coming out of this alive.

And they didn't live in a fairytale. Her prince died at the hands of a coward, leaving her trapped in her ivory tower to die alone.

Eve frowns as a dragon sears across the burning sky, her tears now dry, her emotion spent. She wonders what the point in it all was. She aligned herself with power only to be tossed aside. Sacrificed everything for love only to lose her soulmate. Now she's here again, traded one cage for another, watching this godforsaken place finally burn.

And, broken, Eve falls to her knees and sobs.

No.

Lindsey wanted her to live. Wanted to protect her. He's gone, but she isn't. Not yet. There isn't anything else, no sacred cause or mission. There's just life. So Eve stands, struggles out of the building as it falls apart around her. He had wanted to show her the world, pitying her when she talked of her cage of service to the Wolf, Ram and Hart. So she's going to see it for him, see the whole world before she finally joins him in whatever dimension she falls to after shifting her once immortal coil.

Eve has been alive for longer than she can remember. And now, finally, she's going to live.


End file.
